Thursday, May 22, 2008

hourglass block tutorial

I picked 6" because that is the size of my ruler is, so it made for easy cutting. You could use charm packs like Erin did, you will just get a smaller finished block.

cut each square in half diagonally, twice, to make quarter square triangles

take one triangle of each color and place right sides together

I find it easier to sew the triangles if I start at the top right hand side of the triangle and sew down to the point.

chain piece together all 4 sets. at this point, make sure that all your dark or all your light triangles are on the top, not a mix, or your blocks won't come together as needed. (if you don't, you will need to spend some time with your stitch ripper. I know this from experience.)

normally, I am not a proponent of ironing seams open, but in this case I would, otherwise it gets very bulky at the corners and it makes it hard to quilt over those points.

pin, starting at the center and work out to the edges. that will give you a nice crisp point in the middle. don't worry if the ends don't line up perfectly, those parts will be hidden in the side seams.

sew together, press well and trim off the overhanging ends of the triangles

The finished size of the block will be about 5". For Nancy's quilt, I made the layout 12 x 15, so I needed 180 blocks to get a 60" x 75" quilt. This type of quilt would lend itself to a scrappy quilt quite nicely. Yes, I'm already planning.

24 comments:

oh, you make this looks so easy amandajean! i think part of my problem here is I really need a cutting mat and other quilting tools. I just have a cheap pair of scissors! that is it! i know if i invest in a few more supplies it willbe worht it, and probably save me some time.

Thanks so much for posting a tutorial for this quilt. I love it so much that I had to show my husband last night. When he looked at it he loved it of course and then asked me if all of your quilts are my favorite (I've shown him quite a few "favorites"!!) I answered "well, yes. I guess so!" But I do have some favorite favorites and this is one of them! I will send you a picture when I finish it because I WILL make one! It may take me a while, but I will do it.

Thank you for the tutorial. The quilt is so beautiful, and I am going to bookmark this. I just have to do 3 or 4 others first. I see this in 30's, which would be a nice change from the heavier looking quilts that I have planned.

Thank you for showing this. You make it look so simple. I just read through your last post which was so lovely and what a beautiful gift to give. I am sure she is as grateful for your friendship as you are, because you both sound so lovely!

A few days ago I bought enough fabric to make a full size version of this quilt! I'm making a small test quilt to get the hang of cutting, sewing, and quilting before I move on to the good stuff! Quick question... I have a lot of trouble lining up the triangles in the final step. The two pieces often end up slightly off center. It's awkward when you're trying to match up the points from the reverse. Is there a trick to this? Thanks for such an informative blog:)

I tried it! I made some small hourglass blocks. And it's really not that difficult, your tutorial is fantastic, I knew just what to do, from start to finish! And thanks for the tip on having either lights OR darks facing up when chain-piecing :-)

I have a picture on my blog, and I linked back to you, hope that's ok?!

Thanks for the hour glass tutorial. Just a comment on pressing the long seam. Just unpick the 2 or 3 stitches on the short seam to where the long seam crosses over and finger press the seams in opposite directions. Then you can make a final press of one half of the seam in one direction and the other half in the opposite direction. Makes a nice seam finish.